Yellowstone fans weren’t the only ones surprised by the passing of Monica Dutton in Marshals.
The Kayce Dutton-focused Yellowstone spinoff has already begun airing on CBS. There are four episodes out as of right now, and much of the early storyline revolved around Luke Grimes’ character moving on after the death of his wife, Monica. Many fans have expressed that they were happy that Kayce’s wife was killed off… and it seems to me like that was going to happen, regardless of if Kelsey Asbille was available or not.
The actress who starred in Yellowstone for the series’ entirety was absent from any promotional material leading up to the Marshals premiere. When Asbille’s name was absent from the cast announcements, any news of the show, and eventually the trailers, it became clear that the show was going to move on without her. She reportedly couldn’t be a part of the series because of scheduling conflicts.
Fortunately for the great minds behind Marshals, they need a catalyst anyways to get Kayce Dutton back to his violent ways. So Asbille not being available actually didn’t matter at all. In fact, it helped the writers of the series, and provided a driving force for Luke Grimes’ character to move forward.So Marshals went on as a show that explores Kayce’s world – and other Yellowstone stars that returned – without Monica.
One of the actors that reprised his role from the flagship series was happy to get the call to return. Mo Brings Plenty, who plays a character named Mo in the Yellowstone universe, told The Hollywood Reporter that he was thrilled to get back to work with familiar faces:
“I received a call from my team, and I said, ‘Absolutely. If Luke (Grimes) and Gil (Birmingham) are involved, I’m in.’ It was an easy yes to carry on these characters. These are such iconic characters and I so desired to carry them on. I was kind of sad when we were finishing up ‘Yellowstone.’
Those were some amazing guys. And then all of a sudden, here we are. We’re back. It was just great news to me. I was doing cartwheels in my mind and a happy dance that I would not want the world to see.”
Though he was happy to get back and dive more into his Yellowstone character, Mo Brings Plenty was admittedly shocked that another name from the flagship series wouldn’t be returning.
He was actually caught off guard when he found out that Monica wasn’t going to be a part of Marshals. Mo Brings Plenty saw her as a vital connection point, and wasn’t sure how the story – and his character – would continue without Monica:
“Boy. At first, I was like, ‘Why?!’ Because that was our connection to the Duttons. There’s always been a connection between the Dutton family and Broken Rock, but Monica was more of a connection. So to lose that, at first, my reaction was like, ‘No.'”
However, Mo Brings Plenty eventually accepted that this tragic event for Kayce Dutton would be one of the only things that could allow for his story to continue – and thus the spinoff show to happen at all:
“But we gotta tell a story. And the blessing of that occurring is that Kayce has to fill that void now. So that connection is still there. Not just for the fact that Rainwater adopted and took him in as a brother, but I think the warriors that Mo and Kayce are, that brotherhood has always been there, but it’s become even stronger.”
You can see that Mo and Kayce connection by tuning in to Marshals, which airs on CBS on Sunday nights, and you can stream it on demand at Paramount+. New episodes will stream every Sunday through May 24th.
